Category: like

There is a massive chance that you have social media, have had social media or if you don’t, you have heard of social media. It is hard these days to not look at other social media users and be jealous. If I look at Instagram I often look at the people I follow and wonder how I get their life. Some people are posting pictures of exotic places, the fancy food they eat and even make people jealous at how “easy” it is to be the perfect parent.

The jealousy is normal as it is not unnatural to want better and to strive for better. Having it in your face and at the click of a button doesn’t help. It is not hard to open a search engine and to begin researching the effects on social media presence of others have on other people. It can also cause others to get in debt to live the perfect life.

So why do people do it?

The image we have of ourselves is a contributing factor. If we live a life that isn’t luxurious then an escape is social media. We can edit, change and make ourselves look better then what we are.

An image or a video only shows a fraction of our lives. Behind the camera can be a team or entire crew who edit the image to look a certain way. People want to look like they are fulfilled in their lives and they want to look successful.

The question we need to ask is why do we need to lie to ourselves? Pictures of us dressed up, smiling with a drink in hand is a famous picture. It invites people to look at you and like it. It glamourises us and in some cases gives us satisfaction when we get compliments.

Arguably those with low confidence can get confidence and happy if they are unhappy with their lives. But it isn’t right. People who are conscience about social media will be aware of what they are posting. I once was in a relationship with a girl who wouldn’t wear the same outfit twice as she didn’t want all the pictures on her Facebook to be of her in the same outfit. This encouraged her to buy more clothes or change her outfits. Pictures were also consolidated with friends and words like ‘Don’t put that one on Facebook’ or ‘ That makes me look fat’ were said to friends. This -despite me thinking their was nothing wrong with her – was for keeping up appearances online. An is an issue of importance for some people.

All about the likes

There are two types of likes in my opinion:

The like like

These are the likes where people will actually look at the picture and they will like it because they can relate to the content and genuinely like it. These likes are why we put pictures and videos online. We do it to gratify ourselves and these likes make us feel better about ourselves and give us the motivation to post content online.

The scrolling like

This is the like where a person will just be casualling scrolling on a social media, come across a picture or video and like it. They like it because they like picture and that’s that. It doesn’t mean anything to them its just a nice picture. As with art; it is open to interpretation. Some like the picture because it speaks to them and some like it because it looks nice.

Now until all social media can identify the ‘likes likes’ and ‘the scrolling likes’, it will be hard for those who put effort and soul to distinguish who likes their media and why.

Then again we could share pictures and videos online not for the likes but to share our experiences and lives. Who really wants to look at a staged and edited picture right?